According to recent research documents on fisheries, in the dry season, linh fish live in large rivers and lakes in the upper Mekong River, concentrated mainly in Tonle Sap Lake.
The main spawning season is the beginning of the rainy season in May and June. The spawning grounds are usually at river junctions, along the banks, where the water flows and the linh fish eggs float.
After hatching, linh fish swim downstream with the flood into rivers, canals, ditches, fields and grow up. The further downstream, the further into the fields, the less linh fish there are until they encounter salt water.
Linh fish appear in the provinces downstream of the Mekong River such as Can Tho, Vinh Long, Tien Giang... on the full moon of the 7th lunar month. At this time, rivers, canals, ditches, and fields in the region are all full of water.
The expanded living environment and abundant food sources are ideal conditions for linh fish to breed and thrive.
Wherever the flood water rises, the fish follow. After the flood recedes, the fish go to the big river, then return upstream, and every year the cycle is the same.
Early season linh fish - a specialty of the flood season in the West - often follows the water downstream, into canals and ditches to find bait. You can use a scoop, net, or bottom trap to catch them.
CL has a special economic significance in the fishing industry in the Mekong Delta. Their high or low appearance during the year signals the good or bad harvest of fish and shrimp in the region.
People in the plains use many fishing tools to catch linh fish, such as nets, traps, cast nets, traps, fishing boats, nets spread or set on the bottom of rivers and canals. However, depending on the stage of linh fish with different sizes, using suitable fishing tools will yield a large yield.
During the early flood season, from the full moon of July to the end of August, young linh fish are the size of chopsticks. They often follow the water flow into canals and ditches in the fields to find food, so people use traps, nets, or traps to catch them.
At the end of the flood season, from September to December of the lunar calendar, linh fish follow the flood to the big river. At this time, the fish are big, as big as an index finger. People use bottom traps, nets, cast nets, and nets to catch linh fish. The linh fish catching season lasts about 3 months.
In recent years, thanks to the development of means of transport, especially water transport, the amount of linh fish exploited in the upstream provinces has been quickly distributed to the downstream provinces.
Many fishermen in the upstream provinces also know how to catch early-season linh fish in dugout canoes and transport them to markets in the downstream provinces to sell, so many people can buy this specialty of the flood season to bring home to cook.
CL is processed into many different dishes by the people of the plains. Each region has its own cooking style, but braised and sour soup are the two most popular dishes. Small linh fish are more popular and are more expensive than large fish.
Small CL is used to cook soy sauce, braise pineapple (braise lightly) and eat with the bones or puree, stuff bitter melon or make balls to cook sour soup. Large CL is used to cook sour soup or braise coconut water, braise pandan leaves and leave the whole fish.
In particular, CL is delicious when cooked in sour soup with water mimosa flowers or with chopstick flowers. Linh fish can also be made into whole fish sauce, fermented to make fish sauce or canned like canned bait fish.
In recent years, the amount of wild linh fish has decreased sharply due to changes in the fish's habitat and overexploitation by humans for various purposes. In Vinh Long, the amount of young linh fish at the beginning of the flood season is only seen for sale in large markets but in limited quantities, and rarely seen in markets in the rice fields.
Young CL are bought and collected by retailers to sell at markets, but not every day, fish are only sold on full moon or 30th of lunar month. Each market only sells a few kilos of linh fish mixed with other fish.
The selling price is very high, from 20,000-30,000 VND/100g, but housewives have to go to the market early to buy because there are many buyers. Linh fish at the end of the flood season is mainly brought by boats from the upper regions (An Giang, Dong Thap), the amount of fish caught on the spot is very small...
In order to preserve and maintain the natural linh fish resource from the risk of depletion, in 2009, the research team of the Faculty of Aquaculture, Can Tho University, in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology of An Giang province and the Aquatic Breeding Center of An Giang province, successfully artificially reproduced and raised linh fish.
Since then, many research and experimental projects on artificial production and raising linh fish have been successfully implemented and applied, opening up prospects for expanding linh fish farming on a large scale in ponds and squares, helping to preserve and develop the long-standing aquatic resources of the river region.
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